Eddie Howe admitted his concern after Sandro Tonali and Joelinton were forced off injured during Newcastle United’s 3–2 defeat to Liverpool at St James’ Park on Monday.
Theheated matchup saw Newcastle play with 10 men for more than half the game after Anthony Gordon’s red card in first-half stoppage time for a reckless tackle. Despite rallying to draw the match 2-2 through Bruno Guimaraes and William Osula, Liverpool’s 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha struck in the 100th minute to hand the Reds a win and dealt the Magpies a tough loss.
Tonali, who rarely comes off early, left the field with an arm injury in the 66th minute, while Joelinton followed soon after with what appeared to be a leg problem. Both players looked in discomfort as they departed, withthe Brazilian limping off.
“I don’t know. They’re genuine injuries,” Howe said. “They’ve come off and that’ll be a huge blow for us. Joey, it doesn’t look great to be honest. Particularly how quickly he signalled to come off. Sandro again, didn’t look good, he couldn’t really move his arm and he wanted to stay on but couldn’t really.”
Fabian Schar was also withdrawn following a head knock and possible concussion, though Howe said after the game his issue was less concerning.
“Then we’ve obviously lost Anthony Gordon to suspension and Fabby (Schar) to concussion,” Howe said.
Howe also touched on the lack of Newcastle’s goalscoring with Isak out of comission.
“The quality of Alex [Isak], I think he would have made a difference in the two games, but you can’t carry anyone,” Howe said, reflecting on the wider strain on his squad. “The first half was very us — high octane, front-foot football. The only thing missing was goals. The second half was really well executed. I cannot fault them at all.”
In a slightly more positive note, all those bad news meant that Newcastle handed debuts to Jacob Ramsey and Malick Thiaw. That said, the prospect of losing two starting midfielders for an extended spell is a very serious setback for.the Magpies with under a week for the closing of the transfer market.
Tonali and Joelinton remain central to Howe’s system, and their potential absence could leave Newcastle exposed with a busy schedule ahead, starting with a trip to Leeds on Saturday.